One lesson of the Arab Spring is that news now travels very fast indeed. Within hours of the 20,000 copies of the second issue of Egypt Independent being pulped, the story had spread not only in Egypt, but globally, as the article in London's The Independent attests.

Egypt's dominance is emblematic of the important role hashtags played in organizing real-time updates and reaction to big news events this year. Egypt had "a far more mature and extensive social media environment" before its uprising than Tunisia did before its revolution, and the Egyptian protests went on to forge microblogging celebrities.

Media and technology have played a powerful role in mobilizing protesters and exposing authoritarian rulers and regimes. Political consciousness and solidarity have given shape and strength to civil societies, making it increasingly difficult for recalcitrant establishments to go unchallenged.

The Egyptian people, who at times since January have seemed apathetic about the future of the revolution, have shown their determination to reclaim it. The people dying on Egypt's streets are fighting for the true conditions of a just society. Elections, which in Egypt always can be manipulated, cannot be trusted to deliver that goal.

Egypt's Kefaya ("Enough" in Arabic) movement was in many ways the forefather of the Arab uprising. It pioneered the use of social media, mastered the art of symbolic demonstrations, and pried open a space in the Egyptian media. This opening of closed regimes to raw information and opinion, a faith in the power of public ideas, was itself one of the key ideas underpinning the Arab uprisings.

Tourism, a buttress of the economy upon which an estimated 15 million people depend, remains in a tailspin. Desperate to reverse the trend, the tourism authority even test-marketed the uprising.

A bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi, gifted to the people of Egypt by India in recognition of their peaceful pro-democracy revolution, has been unveiled in Cairo to mark the fifth international day of non-violence.

It is in America's best interest that Egypt develop into a state that supports tolerance and peace. U.S. assistance can and should be conditional on Egypt's adopting such values. ... "The U.S. should be clear with the Egyptian public about what kind of state it can partner with. We should define clearly the kind of country we want to see, not which leader we do or do not want to lead."